. So I spoke to my cousin in New Jersey and it's settled: I'll be coming down there for Thanksgiving and will spend the night.
I'm making my red grape/dried cranberry relish, my dark chocolate-walnut-dried cranberry clusters and an as-yet-undetermined side dish. Which I have to figure out soon. She MAY have another guest, a CFO she used to work with who is divorced.
I'll wait til Wednesday morning to buy a few ingredients I need for my dishes, so the grapes are super fresh, and then I'll make them later that day and will transport them in my car in a small cooler with some ice packs.
I'm also bringing a few matted & enlarged but unframed photographs my mother took that my cousin might like. One of them is a duplicate of a framed photo I have.
Finally, I am also bringing a large scrapbook I'm just starting to assemble today of all my family tree research. I have had 2 large leather binders that I've used for years to showcase writing samples when I go on job interviews. I emptied out one and am using that for the genealogy stuff. Trouble is, I've nearly filled it up and haven't even covered 2 of the 4 grandparents' families. I've done so much work on it.
Anyway, my cousin is into this family stuff too and I'll know she'll be interested.
Who knows what the traffic will be like but normally it's an hour and a half drive. I'm fretting about the impact on my car tracking device but I am actually taking I-287 for most of the way, so I can just stay in the slow lane and try not to brake much.
If it ends up my discount is not as much as I hoped for, I will simply drop my collision next year and save myself $249, no muss, no fuss. It's a 2013 Honda.
When I return from Jersey, I'll need to bring the 13 pieces for the December art show featuring mom's work at area gallery. I have at least determined which pieces I want to include, drew up the inventory/agreement so we both know what I'm dropping off, with prices I'm satisfied with, and I also wrote a press release for the show, which the gallery owner can use in her local paper and on her Facebook page, and I'll distribute it to other local papers.
I still have to carefully clean and package the pieces, and load them in the car. It's a lot of work but if I sell ONE piece I will be happy. What's discouraging is when nothing sells and you have to take it all back again.
Let's see, what else? Oh, I think I have a buyer for a clamp and saw miter box that was my mother's. Asked $20 for it on Craig's List and buyer expressed interest in meeting me; I'm just waiting for his confirmation of tomorrow morning.
I am hoping to write up 3 more topic summaries for nutritionfacts.org before I leave on Thanksgiving. I want to keep the momentum going. I don't think it'll be too long before they go live online. 
I was supposed to drive to another MS luncheon with someone I met at the last one, but she is now unable to go. She has MS and her walking has deteriorated and her doctor wants her to try a new drug (it's a chemo drug and he's using it off label) and so her appointment for that ended up being the day we were going to go to the lunch together. I just met this woman. I tried to be supportive. It would surely have to be bad if she's willing to take a chemo drug, possibly monthly.
I had a really nice dinner with dad last night. We went to an Italian place here in town and it was great. I read dad the latest letter I got from the German pastor.
I have conclusively determined that I can find old copies of The Bergen Record from 1930 and 1945 on microfilm at the public library in Hackensack, NJ, so one of these times my dad heads down to Rutherford to see his son/my half-brother, he'll drop me off in Hackensack where I can research for a few hours and hopefully find two newsworthy family events from those years. Maybe we can do it first week of December.
So, a lot going on. Job search is dead.
Planning for the big holiday
November 21st, 2016 at 12:52 am
November 21st, 2016 at 01:16 am 1479690967
November 21st, 2016 at 03:27 am 1479698834
Collision isn't an all-or-none decision; you can explore different deductibles. What is your deductible set at? If it is low, like $100, ask how much raising it to $500 would be. That might lower your premium enough to make it seem reasonable. If you have State Farm, you can go online and play with the effects of changing coverages yourself. Maybe other insurers allow you to, too. For example, I found that if I changed my collision deductible from $250 to $2,000, that would lower my premiums by almost $100 a year.
The key with insurance is not just to focus on the cost but to focus on what you could afford if things go bad. If your car were totalled, you (based on your sidebar) have the funds to buy a new car, but a 2013 Honda is probably still worth over 10K, and a new car would cost you over 20K, and that's going to hurt a lot more than that insurance premium if god forbid you needed it. Look into your deductible and what the effets of raising it would be before you outright cancel the option.
Have a great Thanksgiving!
November 21st, 2016 at 04:56 am 1479704207
November 21st, 2016 at 01:48 pm 1479736134
November 21st, 2016 at 02:57 pm 1479740244
November 21st, 2016 at 10:05 pm 1479765902
Boil down about a quart of cranberry juice so it's super concentrated. After it's cooled, add sliced red grapes and dried cranberries, equal parts. Add a bit of lemon juice and lemon zest from an organic lemon. That's it. The combo of juicy fresh grapes with chewy dried cranberries will really knock your socks off.
November 22nd, 2016 at 04:13 am 1479788002
November 22nd, 2016 at 02:02 pm 1479823375
CB, I know my recipe directions above were vague. It's 1.5 cups of the halved grapes and 1.5 cups of the dried cranberries. You boil down the cranberry juice til you have about 1 cup of liquid left.
November 22nd, 2016 at 03:46 pm 1479829602
November 22nd, 2016 at 11:10 pm 1479856241
November 26th, 2016 at 02:28 am 1480127320